Two men arrested in sex sting to stand trial

WAUSAU — – Two men who were arrested in a regional child sex sting in October, including one former Boy Scout volunteer, were ordered Tuesday to stand trial in Marathon County Circuit Court.

David Cantrell, 40, of Rothschild and Gregory Pfingsten, 56, of Wausau face single charges of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, according to court records. They were among six men arrested in the sting in Marathon County and 24 people arrested in the region during the sex sting, police said.

Cantrell, a former Wausau-area Boy Scout volunteer, sought to meet with a 15-year-old girl, according to court documents. Cantrell responded to an ad in the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist.com that had been posted by undercover police, according to court documents. He suggested going to a secluded park with the purported 15-year-old and said in an email conversation that he was old enough to be the girl’s dad.

Law enforcement found condoms he had just bought when they arrested him, though he told police he would not have let her in his car and had no intention of carrying out sex acts described in the email exchange, according to court documents.

Pfingsten also responded to a Craigslist ad portraying a 15-year-old girl. He arranged to meet her at the Walmart in Rib Mountain, where he was arrested.

Both are scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 11.

Alison Dirr can be reached at 715-845-0658. Find her on Twitter as @AlisonDirr

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